


♡ Runaway Love ♡

by Hawkinsbabe (Multishippers)



Series: ♡ Whenever you're Reddie (Prompts) ♡ [4]
Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Child Abuse, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak-centric, Established Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kinda, M/M, Minor Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, POV Eddie Kaspbrak, Reddie, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Soft Richie Tozier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 05:45:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17677544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multishippers/pseuds/Hawkinsbabe
Summary: Prompt: Hmmmmm. Maybe something like Eddie decides to run away from home during senior year as his mother is threatening to keep him here and not let him go to college and Richie goes with him? - reddies-spaghetti ❤️↛ sent by losvernotafighter via TumblrOrThe one where Sonia Kaspbrak pushed her luck too far.A/N: I twisted the threatening into her more so actively trying to keep him in Derry and in her house. I hope you still enjoy it though, if not I’m so sorry and I’ll rewrite it! Also, the mental illness I am referring to is Munchausen syndrome by Proxy which is where the parents (in most cases) make their child sick/makeup them being sick. It is a form of Child Abuse.





	♡ Runaway Love ♡

**Author's Note:**

> TW: CHILD ABUSE

After kissing Richie goodbye, carefully hidden behind the tall tree near his neighbour’s house, Eddie neatly placed his old bike against the garage door, making sure it wouldn’t slip before he found himself running the short distance to the porch, where he got on his tiptoes while one of his hands reached down the wooden mailbox excitedly. Nothing. Again. Much to Eddie’s disappointment, but also much to his surprise. By now he should’ve had at the very least one letter from one of the twelve colleges he had applied to, even if it was a rejection one. But no. He didn’t. 

“What am I doing wrong?” He wondered out loud, his hand gripping the rim of the mailbox as he fell back to the ball of his feet, eyes staring into space as he felt the familiar staggering pain that abused his frontal lobe when his anxiety started to build up.

“Eddie Bear? Is that you?” He heard his mother call out for him from inside the house, making him close his eyes as a shaky breathe left him. His knuckles easily turned a few shades whiter the more he imagined himself being stuck in this town and in this house.

“Yeah Ma’.” Had he finally replied once he cleared his throat, somehow still sounding strained and strangled.

“Don’t stay out too long, you’ll catch a cold.”

-

The forced smile he had put on the whole dinner fell through as soon as he reached his room and shut his door, not noticing the slight change that had been brought to it. He walked his way to the Dell computer he had convinced his mom on buying it for his school work, logging into his MSN messenger account immediately. No one was connected, except for Richie who had once again changed his name for something ridiculous that did bring a small smile onto his tired face, fingers stopping their massage session for the poor muscles in his cheeks. When Richie sprung up a conversation.

_The one and only Dick: Spaghetti!_

_Eddie: :(_

_The one and only Dick: Oh_

_The one and only Dick: no letter? :(_

_Eddie: nope_

_Eddie: I’ll never get out of this shit hole_

_The one and only Dick: Eds you will._

_The one and only Dick: be patient._

_Eddie: No_

_Eddie: Mom is right Rich_

_Eddie: I don’t get good enough grades to go to college_

_Eddie: and I never did PE which is a requirement_

_The one and only Dick: shuddup n gimme the list of schools you applied to_

_The one and only Dick: Imma eat their ass._

_Eddie: That’s disgusting and disturbing_

Eddie didn’t notice tears were escaping him until his attention was brought away by a ‘Click’ that ticked him off and he weirdly enough felt one single tear pool at deep of his eyelids. His hands left the keyboard, letting his the back of them wipe across his cheeks, only to look at the glistening wetness he gathered on them.

“Get it together Kaspbrak.” He whispered to himself. The sound hadn’t been something really loud, nothing that he normally would pay that much attention to and something he quickly stopped looking for as the sound of the chat blowing up brought him back to the screen.

_The one and only Dick: BEAT_

_The one and only Dick: I MEANT BEAT_

_The one and only Dick: EDS?_

_The one and only Dick: EDDIE?_

_The one and only Dick: MY LOVE?_

_The one and only Dick: SUGARPLUM?  
_

-

“Well, I don’t want to go to college if you don’t go,” Richie said, chewing obnoxiously loud onto his green apple as he sat beside Eddie, though he had his back leaning against the wall so he could face him.

“That’s stupid Chee, don’t throw your life away like that you idiot,” Eddie said, throwing his napkin at him, eyes rolling as his chin rested against the palm of his hand, brown eyes still looking somewhat amused at the boy with curly hair that was sat beside him.

“Well, I did send my application there so I could continue to stalk a cute boy.” He teased, effectively making Eddie blush, though he scolded him again by throwing at him his spoon this time.

“Think about yourself a little man.”

“I can’t when there’s a hottie around me.” God did he hate that charming smile. He hated it almost as much as he loved the feeling it brought in the deep of his stomach and the way it made his heart flutter in his chest.

“Shut up!” He giggled, trying without really trying to push him away as he suddenly was pressed against him, nuzzling his nose against his cheek.

“Never!” Richie had screamed on top of the squeal that had escaped Eddie as cold hands started to tickle his side.

-

Weeks had pass and Eddie could see the shift in his mother and the shift in the way she would interact with him. He uses to think that, while she was grossly inventing reasons for him to take medications and drive him to the hospital, she did it out of worry for his well being and out of pure love. But with every single discouraging discourse she would have for him about how bad college is and how better he would be if he stayed home with her, he started to see that the love had shifted into something that began to scare him. She seemed to gain power and confidence every time Eddie would nod his head, complying with her every word as he tried to convince himself he wouldn’t be missing the most wonderful years of his life, not only that but missing the joy and freedom of being under no one’s control. And as he started to notice such a thing, Eddie couldn’t help but notice smaller details he should’ve seen long ago;

“I think my mom put a lock on my bedroom door.” He blurted out, still staring at the beige wall of the school library, effectively capturing the attention of both Ben and Beverly that were closely seated together on the side opposite him at the table. 

“Now that’s crazy.”

“What?” They both said at the same time, both with different expression overtaking their features once Eddie could focus on them. Beverly looked rather worried as if she knew in some kind of way where this could lead as if she knew the feeling of being trapped a little too well. While Ben, on the other hand, looked absolutely mortified to the point where he had no words. When Eddie’s brown eyes landed into his, he could see the panic and the gears of his brain working harder than ever, probably trying to find something, anything, to say that could be of help. But he was as lost as Eddie was right now. He wasn’t sure why it slipped out now and he surely didn’t know what to say now that his suspicions were out. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust the both of them with that kind of information, but truth be told, he wouldn’t have expected himself to be blurting this out to the couple. Then again, he didn’t think anyone else would react the way they did, the way that didn’t seem forced nor made him feel uncomfortable.

A soft ‘Sweetie.’ had escaped the redhead’s mouth as she reached over the table to lay a hand over his very own that was shaking without him knowing, soon followed by some advice and tips on what to do if he ever found himself needing anything while being locked. And it was helpful, but by some point, he couldn’t hear anything, white noise overtaking the space between his ears right as an unsettling amount of the thoughts and realization seemed to down on him.

“I need to get out.” He realized, his hand slipping from under Beverly’s, standing up so abruptly that his chair made a horrible noise as it fell to the floor, a mix of determination and pure fright fighting for dominance in his iris as he marched right out, not hearing Ben kindly proposing to drive him home and leaving everything that was his right on the table. 

Eddie never had been someone to follow his instinct or one to spontaneously do something. He always followed the rules that had been set for him in life and always stayed out of danger. Well, as much as he could afford too. It was over the smallest thing too, like not skipping any stairs to be sure he wouldn’t trip, not run on the grass so he wouldn’t slip over mud, watch both ends of the road before stepping onto it. Little thing that he didn’t do this once, something that Richie, who was out sitting on a wooden picnic table further away, noticed a little too easily and washed a sense of uneasiness over him.

-

“You- How could you do this to me?! Your own son!” Eddie couldn’t help but scream in rage, but shaking violently as he held up torn pieces of envelopes due to the fact that he just stuck his hand in a garbage bag, throat dry and tight due to the amount of dry heaving it had been put through.

“Don’t you dare scream at me Edward Kaspbrak.” His mother had warned. But it only fueled the first that had been set in him, seeing her not denying what she did make him feel utterly stupid. Stupid for being blind. “I did all of this for you. So you could stay with Mommy and let Mommy take care of you.”

“You did this for you!” Eddie said forcefully, thought his tone died down as he threw the papers onto the table, ignore his mother screaming at him to throw them in the trash but also ignore his desperate urge and need to comply to her orders but also to take a bath in hand sanitizer.

“You are sick Ma’… And I can’t help you. I can’t be your porcelain doll anymore.” He added with barely any energy anymore to fight her, pushing her big hand away from his forehead as she tried to check his temperature. He wanted to reason with her, he wanted to knock some sense into her. Surely enough she knew what she was doing, she knew she was sick, no? He did have his answer soon enough seeing she begin to ramble about how he had a fever and that must be why he was being ‘Delusional’. Instead of fighting, with a heavy heart and regret-filled tears pooling at his eyes, he decided he push past her heading for the door with all the intention of not coming back for the night. But that idea was torn away from him when his hand touched the doorknob and a chill ran up his spine at his mother’s voice;

“You are not going anywhere Eddie Bear.”

-

Eddie didn’t have any intention of stopping by anyone’s house on his way out of the city, he didn’t plan on letting anyone know where he was going either with the small backpack he had on his back. But as he waited for the last bus out of the city for the night, as he watched his bruised and crusty knuckles that got damaged by the way he fought against the locked door of his bedroom, in which he had been thrown into, and the window from which he escaped, he saw from the corner of his mind the familiar Converses before hearing that warm annoying voice he knew deep down he would be missing;

“Where are we going on this beautiful night Eddie Spaghetti?” 

The stupid nickname irritated in the most annoying way because once again he knew he would miss it, he would miss the way it rolled off of his tongue and the even stupider grin that always came along with it. He didn’t have the energy to fight it though. Hell, he barely had the energy to even sit on this bench and stay awake until the bus came. So he didn’t fight two tears that escaped each of his eyes, head hung low as he croaked out;

“I don’t know.” Tugging onto the sleeve of the horrendous sweatshirt he had borrowed from Richie and never gave back, the only thing keeping him warm at the moment. 

“Now that’s pretty dumb.”

“Go away Richie, I really don’t need this right now.” He could see Richie crouching down, his calloused hands enveloping his that were still covered, bringing them to his mouth where he softly kissed the part that was peeking out of the sleeve. Eddie let his eyes venture upwards a little, noticing the backpack straps hanging from the boy’s shoulder, confusion writing itself all across his face as he sniffed loudly.

“It’s okay Eds,” Richie said in a way Eddie had never heard, a way that warmed Eddie from the inside out. “We don’t need to know where we are going.”

It wasn’t what he had expected, it wasn’t what he had wanted. But relief flooded him as soon as he heard his last sentence, collapsing onto his boyfriend, arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

“I’m so scared Rich.” Eddie sobbed out, his heart that had felt so tight up until now suddenly feeling free. Free to feel the pain. Free to feel the anger. Free to feel absolutely terrified. Free to simply feel its own emotions.

“I’ve got you, Eddie. I’ve got us.”

And he did. Truth be told, Eddie expected to wake up into his room or at the very least Richie’s room. But no, he woke up on a bus, his head on Richie’s laps with the boy’s long fingers tangled in his hair. He expected to wake up feeling panicked and uneasy. And while he was the latter a little bit, he felt safe, truly and completely safe, for the first time in a while as he looked up to the boy that had his head resting against the window sleeping as soundly as ever. Unbeknown to Eddie, Richie had everything planned out, as if he had been as prepared for this sort of scenario as some were for the apocalypse. Went and Maggie had a beach house in New-Jersey where the family used to go for Summer. Shortly after Eddie passed out in his arms, Richie called them, begging for them to let them stay there for a while, not that it took a lot for the parents to accept, their only conditions being that they called them every day so they knew the boys were okay. Went even offered to drive them there as he dropped the keys of the house, along with much more cash than Richie thought they would need, but he declined. It was an experience he wanted Eddie to live, he wanted him to know the thrill that running away had for a while.

When they got there, Eddie couldn’t believe his own two eyes as he stared at the small house and the view behind it.

“There’s this small café and a florist a few blocks away, where we can apply and work at until we can apply for college again. You know, we can be very Tumblr and shit.” Richie informed, the two backpacks on his shoulder as he fumbled to find the keys, stealing a glance at the boy that was still quietly appreciating the peacefulness of the place all while his mind was running wild with everything he knew he could do now that he didn’t have his mother reminding him every second and everything and anything could make him terminally ill. 

“We can do anything?”

“You can do everything.”

**Author's Note:**

> ♡ Kudos & Comments are deeply appreciated ♡


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